WebSpawner.com Blog

So you’ve finished your shopping, wrapped the gifts, baked some Christmas cookies and hung your stockings by the chimney with care. Your house is decorated and lit from rooftop to foundation. So what else is there to do on Christmas Eve? Why, grab some eggnog and gather the family around the warm glow of your computer screen to track Santa’s travels online, of course!

For more than 50 years, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), a bi-national military organization ever on the watch for man-made threats in the skies over Canada and the United States, has utilized its high-tech equipment each Christmas Eve to track the travels of Santa Claus in his sleigh. Each year NORAD provides updates to radio and television stations on the progress of jolly St. Nick’s travels, and in more recent years has also been providing live tracking information on the internet.

The NORAD TRACKS SANTA 2007 website is online now with fun activities including an interactive North Pole Map with games and more, and on Christmas Eve it will provide up-to-the-minute information on the exact whereabouts of Santa and his sleigh (and the reindeer, too). Visit the website with your kids now as they are sure to find it fun, and don’t forget to bookmark it for Christmas Eve.

For the nice (and naughty) girls and boys in the United Kingdom, the Wroxall-Weather website will also provide live Santa tracking on Christmas Eve starting at 7:00pm local time. As of now, the website has a countdown timer ticking off the seconds until Santa leaves the North Pole to begin his journey.

All of us here at WebSpawner wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday season and a very happy new year!

A web browser is a software-based application used to view webpages on the World Wide Web. When you use your web browser to view a webpage, the browser saves a copy of the webpage on your computer’s hard drive; this is called caching.

When you make a return visit to the webpage, your browser pulls the information from its cache files rather than retrieving the information over your internet connection again; in this manner, the browser loads the webpage more quickly and uses less bandwidth. However, if the webpage has been updated since your last visit, the version saved in your browser’s cache may not reflect recent changes made to the webpage.

If you have made recent changes to your WebSpawner webpage but do not see those changes when you view your webpage, your browser is likely showing you a cached copy from a previous visit. For this reason, it is sometimes necessary to clear or empty your browser’s cache so the browser will load a fresh copy of the updated webpage upon your next visit.

Clearing your browser’s cache may also free up space on your computer’s hard drive.

Following are instructions on how to clear your web browser’s cache for several popular web browsers. Note that some browsers, such as Internet Explorer, refer to the cache as “Temporary Internet Files.”

Internet Explorer Version 6 for Windows

1. Click on the Tools menu, pull down and release on Internet Options.
2. The General tab should be visible (if not, click on it).
3. Under Temporary Internet Files click the Delete Files button.
4. Click OK, and then click OK again to close the Internet Options window.

Internet Explorer Version 7 for Windows

1. Click on the Tools menu, pull down and release on Internet Options.
2. The General tab should be visible (if not, click on it).
3. Under Browsing History click the Delete button.
4. Next to Temporary Internet Files click the Delete Files button.
5. Click Yes and then click the X button to close the window.
6. Click OK to close the Internet Options window.

Netscape Navigator Version 9 for Windows

1. Click on the Tools menu, pull down and release on Options.
2. In the Options window, click on Privacy.
3. Under Private Data click the Clear Now button.
4. In the Clear Private Data window, click to check the Cache box if it is not checked already; then click the Clear Private Data Now button.
5. Click OK to close the window.

Firefox Version 2 for Windows

1. Click on the Tools menu, pull down and release on Options.
2. In the Options window, click on Privacy.
3. Under Private Data click the Clear Now button.
4. In the Clear Private Data window, click to check the Cache box if it is not checked already; then click the Clear Private Data Now button.
5. Click OK to close the window.

Firefox Version 2 for Mac

1. Click on the Firefox menu, pull down and release on Preferences.
2. Click the Advanced icon, and then click the Network tab.
3. Under the Cache section, click the Clear Now button.
4. Close the window.

Safari for Mac

1. Click on the Safari menu, pull down and release on Empty Cache.
2. When asked if you are sure you want to empty the cache, click the Empty button.

One common question received by WebSpawner Customer Support is:

“I can’t find the Refresh or Reload button… where is it?”

The Refresh or Reload button is in the toolbar of your web browser program. When clicked, it forces the browser to load a fresh copy of the webpage being viewed from the webhost’s server. This is helpful if you have made changes to your webpage but are unable to see the changes when your view the page (which would be due to your web browser displaying a locally cached copy of the page from a previous visit). Clicking Refresh or Reload while viewing your webpage should cause your browser to display the most recent version of the page, including your changes.

The Refresh or Reload button is usually located very close to the Address Bar.

In Internet Explorer version 6, the Refresh button can be found just above the Address Bar… it has two green arrows like this:

In Internet Explorer version 7, Microsoft has relocated the Refresh button to the right side of the Address Bar:

Users of Mozilla’s Firefox browser for Windows can find the Refresh button to the left of the Address Bar, represented by a single blue arrow curving in a circular direction:

The Mac version of Firefox has a Refresh button with a very similar appearance and location as the Windows version, as shown here:

For those who prefer Apple’s Safari browser on their Macs, the Refresh button is a colorless circular arrow in the familiar left-of-the-Address-Bar location:

Passwords have become a common part of modern life, brought on by advances in technology. No longer confined to the realm of secret agents, passwords are now required everywhere we turn… for checking email, unlocking cell phones, blocking tv programs, accessing online banking, disabling alarm systems, connecting to file servers, using instant messaging, and even disabling screen savers.

Just as you keep your house keys safe to prevent break-ins and theft of your personal property, your passwords should be safe and secure to protect your personal and financial data. Passwords should be difficult for others to guess, yet easy for you to remember.

Following are some “dos” and “don’ts” for safe password selection. To begin, let’s cover some common mistakes that you should not make:

• Don’t select a common word for your password… if it can be found in a dictionary, it is too easy for others to guess.
• Don’t choose a password that can be easily associated with you… your spouse’s or child’s names, street name, pet names, or your birth date are not good choices.
• Don’t create a password that is exactly the same as your user name or account name… while this may seem obvious, a surprisingly large number of people make this mistake.
• Don’t select a sequence of letters or numbers such as 12345678 or ABCDEFGH or even worse 33333333 or FFFFFFFF.
• Don’t choose predictable words like secret, password, opensesame or letmein.
• Don’t send your password in an email message… but if you must do so, use encryption first.
• Don’t use the same password for multiple purposes… instead, create a unique password for each need.
• Don’t leave your password where it can be easily found… written on a Post-it note attached to your computer’s monitor is not a secure place to store your password. In fact, it is best not to write your password down at all if you can avoid it.

Here are some suggestions you should follow to pick more secure passwords:

• Do create a long password… 8 characters minimum, and longer is even better.
• Do use a combination of letters and numbers, and include some symbols ($, #, !, *, &, etc.) if the system allows their inclusion.
• Do mix upper- and lower-case letters… most password systems are case-sensitive.
• Do choose a meaningless or nonsense password… for example, the combined first letters of a multi-word phrase that you can easily remember might make a good password.
• Do use unique spellings, substituting numbers or symbols in place of letters.
• Do change your passwords periodically (a few times a year, at least).
• Do make sure no one is watching you when you type in your password.
• Do combine as many of these guidelines as possible when choosing a new password.